Surviving Mateo (Morelli Family 2)

“Come eat,” she says, nodding at the plates.

“I’ll eat it later.”

“Eat it now. I have to take the dishes back up, and I’m going to bring you to see Lily for a minute.”

The first spike of excitement hits me then. I don’t hesitate, grabbing the plates and scarfing down the food. My stomach roils in protest, but I don’t care. Once it’s done, I follow Mia upstairs, trying to fight down a surge of adrenaline.

The light above stairs actually hurts my eyes. I squint as they struggle to adjust, following Mia into the servants’ quarters. Cherie is in there too, her face pitying as soon as she sees me. She rushes over to Mia, though, addressing her instead of me. “What are you doing, Mia?”

“Adrian said I could. It’s just for a few minutes,” she assures the other girl.

“Adrian’s leaving. You should’ve asked Mateo,” she says.

Mia stares at Cherie like she’s lost her mind. “Yeah, okay, let me go pry him out of his madman’s surveillance cave and ask permission. Good idea.”

“I just don’t want you to get—” She pauses, glancing at me, then back to Mia. “In trouble,” she finishes, a bit lamely.

“Yeah, I don’t want to get in trouble either, but she has a kid, Cherie. This isn’t right. He could’ve kept her in his wing with someone guarding the door. He doesn’t have to treat her like an animal. I didn’t even know there was an actual dungeon, though…” She trails off, laughing a little crazily. “Honestly, I don’t know why. I should’ve assumed.”

My old bedroom is empty when Mia takes me inside. She’s letting me have a shower before she takes me to Lily, and I understand why when I get a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror. Ugh. Gross.

When I get out, she has clean clothes set out for me on the edge of the sink. They’re not mine, but I don’t blame her for not wanting to go to my bedroom to retrieve them for me.

Mateo’s bedroom.

Rolling my shoulders, I try to shake out some of the dread, but I realize that’s the mood in the whole house. It reminds me of the last Disney movie I watched with the girls—Beauty and the Beast. The beautiful, opulent castle transformed into something dark and dreary, the sun gone, shrouded in a heavy fog. Cursed.

Ju is there with Lily now, and emotion rolls over me like a bus. Tears clog my throat as Lily lights up, running over to give me a hug.

“Momma! I missed you.”

“I know, baby,” I say, kissing the top of her head a million times, not letting go. “I missed you, too.”

“You shouldn’t work so much,” she tells me, still hugging me.

I sort of laugh, sort of cry. I don’t know. I’m glad she can’t see me. “I know, I’m sorry.”

“Mateo got us jammies for Bora and Audrey,” she announces.

“New names again?” I say, petting her head, because I just can’t stop touching her. I’m relieved to hear that. It gives me hope. Maybe he won’t speak to me, maybe he doesn’t even want to see my face, but if he’s keeping things normal for Lily, he hasn’t made up his mind to kill me.

I don’t know what happens to Lily if that changes. Does he just keep her? Will she grow up to be Cherie, sort of a maid, sort of a family member? I don’t think he’d hurt her, I really don’t. Although I now understand he’s capable of darker deeds than I originally wanted to believe, there’s no part of me that genuinely thinks he would hurt my daughter.

Cherie pops around the corner, her brown eyes darting to mine. “Time to go.”

“Already?” I ask, staring at her in disbelief. “I’ve only just—”

She interrupts, “He’s heading this way.”

My heart stalls, and my gaze drops to Lily. If he’s coming for me, Cherie’s right—she shouldn’t see that. Forcing a smile, I give her another hug. “Mommy has to go back to work for a little bit.”

“Will you read me a bedtime story tonight?” she asks.

My heart aches. “I want to. I don’t know if I’ll be done working yet, though.”

Ju comes over and takes Lily’s hand, urging her out of the room. Mia flutters—there’s no other word for it, she flutters, moving nervously, jerking her head for me to follow her.

We don’t make it. Before we can get to the basement door, Mateo is there, glaring daggers at both of us.

For all that Mia defended her actions to Cherie, she’s by no means holding her ground now that he’s standing here in front of her. “I just let her see Lily. I was taking her right back.”

He moves forward slowly, eyes narrowed on me, then moving to Mia. “You should’ve asked,” he states.

“I asked Adrian,” she says.

“Adrian doesn’t work for me anymore.”